Reason #1 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent customer support

The thing that separates Bovada from the rest is its customer support. Many other online gaming companies outsource their support. It can be difficult getting a response from them, and if you do it is often slow and handled by somebody with little understanding of gambling or even of English. But Bovada’s support is handled by Bovada, and their support staff is actually knowledgeable and helpful.

I’m so confident that you’ll have a good experience with Bovada that if you have a problem getting paid and you can’t resolve it with them on your own, I’ll talk to them myself. I personally have known the Bovada management for about three years and always found them to be professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. I have also personally visited one of their call centers so I could see first-hand how they handle customer issues. (More on my mediation service.)

If you have a problem with any other casino besides Bovada, I can’t help you. I get complaints from players of other online casinos every day who have difficulty getting paid. However that isn’t my job nor my problem. If you play at Bovada after clicking through my site I’ll stand behind you 100%. Any place else and you’re on your own.

Visit Bovada

Ask the Wizard #26

Edition Date: Sep 10, 2000

Are these very fair rules:

The dealer deals from an infinite deck
Dealer stands on soft 17
No surrender allowed
Player can split any pair
Player can resplit, except for Aces
Insurance offered only when player has two cards
Player can double down on any hand
Player can double after a split
These are the rules at 4aces casino where I always seem to bust if I hit a 12,13 and the dealer wiped me out with a mind numbing over 40 21’s including twice 21’s four times in a row. They do allow late surrender even though it states otherwise in their rules. What is an infinite deck? If these are good rules could you point out a good strategy.
— Douglas from Cumberland, Maryland

According to Stanford Wong’s Blackjack Edge software the house edge under these rules with eight decks is 0.36%. This is assuming you can resplit to four hands. My own analysis has shown that the house edge in an infinite deck game is 0.08% higher than eight decks. Thus the house edge under these rules would be 0.44%. An infinite deck is essentially a game dealt from an infinite number of decks of cards. In other words when a card leaves the deck it has zero impact on the remaining distribution. You seem to also imply that this casino is not dealing a fair game. Unless you provide some hard data I can’t comment.

How do you read the odds on the board at the racetrack? For example what does 20-5 pay if you bet $20 to win?
— Denise from Placerville, USA

I don’t think the board would say "20-5" but rather reduce the ratio to 4-1. That means that the bet will pay 4 to 1. So you will win 4 times your bet, plus get the original bet back, if you win. Thus a $20 wager at 4-1 would win $80. When you take the ticket to the window they will give you $100 ($80 winnings plus original $20 bet returned).

Here in Finland we have blackjack tables in some nightclubs and restaurants but these tables follow the following rules: six decks, stand off only on 21 and blackjack, stand offs on 17,18,19 and 20 the house wins!! No surrender, European no hole card rule, double 9-11, unlimited splits! I understand this is a bad deal for players but how bad is it? What is the house edge in this game?
— Kim from Helsinki, Finland

I have actually seen these rules when I went to Helsinki in 1986. Without a doubt the worst blackjack rules I have ever seen. Again I turn to Stanford Wong with questions like this. His Blackjack Edge software indicates that the house edge under these rules, aside from the losing to ties, to be 0.75%. This assumes the dealer stands on soft 17 and doubling after splitting is not allowed. You didn’t indicate these rules in your e-mail. When I need to know about an unusual rule variation I turn to Wong’s Basic Blackjack which says on page 93 that losing all on a tie, except 21-21, adds 7.0% to the house edge. Thus the overall house edge is 7.75%!

I’m a little confused on what beats what in five and seven card poker. for example: flush beats a straight and so on. Can you please help me out and let know the full list of what hands beat what in poker. Thanks!
— James from USA

Here are the hands from highest to lowest: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, pair.

Lets say you have a slot machine like sizzling seven’s that pays a top prize of 60 coins for one coin played 500 for 2 coins and the progressive for the 3rd coin. Let’s say the machine is played only by one coin players receiving only 60 coins max prize. In other words they excluded themselves from the progressive and 500 coin hits. How does a manufacturer program the machine to satisfy local gaming regulations if this machine will never pay out a jackpot higher than 60 coins. Obviously the machine doesn’t return the same amount to one coin players as it does for three coin players. Doesn’t this violate the minimum payout requirement or does the machine compensate for this?
— Jim from USA

I’m not sure but I think that for purposes of meeting minimum return requirements the gaming authorities assume that the players are playing optimal strategy. In the case of slots this would mean the player is playing the maximum coins for the maximum return. However I think the return is only about 1% less if the player does not play the maximum coins. Due to the competitive nature of most gambling jurisdictions the slots pay out much more than 1% above the minimum requirements.

With a 52-card deck, what are the odds of drawing a pair of Jacks?
— Rick from Gardnerville, USA

Assuming you draw five cards and count all hands with exactly two jacks the probability would be combin(4,2)*combin(48,3)/combin(52,5) = 6*17296/2598960 = 3.99%.

What online casinos have Three Card Poker to bet on?
— Stacy from USA

None that I know of have Three Card Poker.

www.ccc-casino.com has no zero roulette which they call Super Chance Roulette. Are there any systems that would be effective since there is no zero? Without the zero could one effectively play both black and red at the same time since there is no fear of the zero?
— Jon Moriarty from Danville, New Hampshire

I played it in practice mode and it seems to be a legitimate no zero roulette wheel. There is no system that can either beat or lose to this game in the long run. The more you play the more the ratio of the net win to the total amount bet will get closer to zero. If any viewer knows if there is some hidden catch to this game please let me know.

Some casinos offer "comps" for different levels of action. I was wondering if there was a way of approximating how much I would have to wager to earn these bonuses. For example what would I need to risk to "play" $7000, or some other figure? Thank you.
— Steve from New York, USA

The pit boss determines your total action by the product of your average bet size, total number of hours played and number of hands played per hour. I’m not sure what figure they use for the number of hands played per hour but it is a fixed number for any given game. I’ve heard that 100 hands per hour in blackjack is about the right number. If you vary your bet size try to bet more when the pit boss is watching, this will cause him to overestimate your average bet.

Why don’t you have any GamblingSoftware.com sites listed on your site? I think they have around 87 different casinos you should list. It may help if you are fair with your listings.
— Joseph Edwards from Vancouver, BC, Canada

I didn’t realize they had that many casinos. There are too many kinds of software for me to list all of them but if they do indeed have 87 they deserve to be mentioned on my site. Besides that they gave me a free tee-shirt at a trade show.

How can I convert your probabilities into the x to y format?
— Ralph Harpster from Turlock, USA

Saying the odds of something happening are x to y means that the event in question will happen x times for every y times it doesn’t happen. To make the conversion let p be the probability of some event. The odds could also be expressed as (1/p)-1 to 1. Lets look at an example. The probability of drawing a full house in five-card stud is 0.00144058. This could also be represented as 693.165 to 1.

I would like to know what the players edge would be in Let It Ride if he can see can see both the dealers cards and then if he can only see one of them? I was told that you could figure it out.
— Jeff T. Farquhar from Hammonton, USA

If you could see both the dealer’s cards your edge would be 42.06%. The answer for one card exposed is much more difficult to determine. It would also depend on which card it was. I’m afraid this goes beyond what I can do for free.

The video poker machines at Casino Niagara have no progressive jackpots. According to Stanford Wong if an 8/5 quarter video poker machine doesn’t have at least a $2200 jackpot with five quarters played, then dont play. What is your opinion on this.
— Gordon Maska from Lewiston, New York

I would be very reluctant to ever disagree with Stanford Wong. Assuming you played conventional 8/5 strategy the return in your example would be 99.68%. However if you played optimal strategy for this jackpot the return would be 100.08%. The extra 0.08% is likely because Wong rounded up the break-even jackpot size up by as much as $50.


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Reason #1 why the Wizard likes Bovada: Excellent customer support The thing that separates Bovada from the rest is its customer support. Many other online gaming companies outsource their support. It can be difficult getting a response from them, and if you do it is often slow and handled by somebody with little understanding of gambling or even of English. But Bovada’s support is handled by Bovada, and their support staff is actually knowledgeable and helpful. I’m so confident that you’ll have a good experience with Bovada that if you have a problem getting paid and you can’t resolve it with them on your own, I’ll talk to them myself. I personally have known the Bovada management for about three years and always found them to be professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. I have also personally visited one of their call centers so I could see first-hand how they handle customer issues. (More on my mediation service.) If you have a problem with any other casino besides Bovada, I can’t help you. I get complaints from players of other online casinos every day who have difficulty getting paid. However that isn’t my job nor my problem. If you play at Bovada after clicking through my site I’ll stand behind you 100%. Any place else and you’re on your own. Visit Bovada	Ask the Wizard #26 Edition Date: Sep 10, 2000 Are these very fair rules: The dealer deals from an infinite deck Dealer stands on soft 17 No surrender allowed Player can split any pair Player can resplit, except for Aces Insurance offered only when player has two cards Player can double down on any hand Player can double after a split These are the rules at 4aces casino where I always seem to bust if I hit a 12,13 and the dealer wiped me out with a mind numbing over 40 21’s including twice 21’s four times in a row. They do allow late surrender even though it states otherwise in their rules. What is an infinite deck? If these are good rules could you point out a good strategy. — Douglas from Cumberland, Maryland According to Stanford Wong’s Blackjack Edge software the house edge under these rules with eight decks is 0.36%. This is assuming you can resplit to four hands. My own analysis has shown that the house edge in an infinite deck game is 0.08% higher than eight decks. Thus the house edge under these rules would be 0.44%. An infinite deck is essentially a game dealt from an infinite number of decks of cards. In other words when a card leaves the deck it has zero impact on the remaining distribution. You seem to also imply that this casino is not dealing a fair game. Unless you provide some hard data I can’t comment. How do you read the odds on the board at the racetrack? For example what does 20-5 pay if you bet $20 to win? — Denise from Placerville, USA I don’t think the board would say "20-5" but rather reduce the ratio to 4-1. That means that the bet will pay 4 to 1. So you will win 4 times your bet, plus get the original bet back, if you win. Thus a $20 wager at 4-1 would win $80. When you take the ticket to the window they will give you $100 ($80 winnings plus original $20 bet returned). Here in Finland we have blackjack tables in some nightclubs and restaurants but these tables follow the following rules: six decks, stand off only on 21 and blackjack, stand offs on 17,18,19 and 20 the house wins!! No surrender, European no hole card rule, double 9-11, unlimited splits! I understand this is a bad deal for players but how bad is it? What is the house edge in this game? — Kim from Helsinki, Finland I have actually seen these rules when I went to Helsinki in 1986. Without a doubt the worst blackjack rules I have ever seen. Again I turn to Stanford Wong with questions like this. His Blackjack Edge software indicates that the house edge under these rules, aside from the losing to ties, to be 0.75%. This assumes the dealer stands on soft 17 and doubling after splitting is not allowed. You didn’t indicate these rules in your e-mail. When I need to know about an unusual rule variation I turn to Wong’s Basic Blackjack which says on page 93 that losing all on a tie, except 21-21, adds 7.0% to the house edge. Thus the overall house edge is 7.75%! I’m a little confused on what beats what in five and seven card poker. for example: flush beats a straight and so on. Can you please help me out and let know the full list of what hands beat what in poker. Thanks! — James from USA Here are the hands from highest to lowest: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, pair. Lets say you have a slot machine like sizzling seven’s that pays a top prize of 60 coins for one coin played 500 for 2 coins and the progressive for the 3rd coin. Let’s say the machine is played only by one coin players receiving only 60 coins max prize. In other words they excluded themselves from the progressive and 500 coin hits. How does a manufacturer program the machine to satisfy local gaming regulations if this machine will never pay out a jackpot higher than 60 coins. Obviously the machine doesn’t return the same amount to one coin players as it does for three coin players. Doesn’t this violate the minimum payout requirement or does the machine compensate for this? — Jim from USA I’m not sure but I think that for purposes of meeting minimum return requirements the gaming authorities assume that the players are playing optimal strategy. In the case of slots this would mean the player is playing the maximum coins for the maximum return. However I think the return is only about 1% less if the player does not play the maximum coins. Due to the competitive nature of most gambling jurisdictions the slots pay out much more than 1% above the minimum requirements. With a 52-card deck, what are the odds of drawing a pair of Jacks? — Rick from Gardnerville, USA Assuming you draw five cards and count all hands with exactly two jacks the probability would be combin(4,2)combin(48,3)/combin(52,5) = 617296/2598960 = 3.99%. What online casinos have Three Card Poker to bet on? — Stacy from USA None that I know of have Three Card Poker. www.ccc-casino.com has no zero roulette which they call Super Chance Roulette. Are there any systems that would be effective since there is no zero? Without the zero could one effectively play both black and red at the same time since there is no fear of the zero? — Jon Moriarty from Danville, New Hampshire I played it in practice mode and it seems to be a legitimate no zero roulette wheel. There is no system that can either beat or lose to this game in the long run. The more you play the more the ratio of the net win to the total amount bet will get closer to zero. If any viewer knows if there is some hidden catch to this game please let me know. Some casinos offer "comps" for different levels of action. I was wondering if there was a way of approximating how much I would have to wager to earn these bonuses. For example what would I need to risk to "play" $7000, or some other figure? Thank you. — Steve from New York, USA The pit boss determines your total action by the product of your average bet size, total number of hours played and number of hands played per hour. I’m not sure what figure they use for the number of hands played per hour but it is a fixed number for any given game. I’ve heard that 100 hands per hour in blackjack is about the right number. If you vary your bet size try to bet more when the pit boss is watching, this will cause him to overestimate your average bet. Why don’t you have any GamblingSoftware.com sites listed on your site? I think they have around 87 different casinos you should list. It may help if you are fair with your listings. — Joseph Edwards from Vancouver, BC, Canada I didn’t realize they had that many casinos. There are too many kinds of software for me to list all of them but if they do indeed have 87 they deserve to be mentioned on my site. Besides that they gave me a free tee-shirt at a trade show. How can I convert your probabilities into the x to y format? — Ralph Harpster from Turlock, USA Saying the odds of something happening are x to y means that the event in question will happen x times for every y times it doesn’t happen. To make the conversion let p be the probability of some event. The odds could also be expressed as (1/p)-1 to 1. Lets look at an example. The probability of drawing a full house in five-card stud is 0.00144058. This could also be represented as 693.165 to 1. I would like to know what the players edge would be in Let It Ride if he can see can see both the dealers cards and then if he can only see one of them? I was told that you could figure it out. — Jeff T. Farquhar from Hammonton, USA If you could see both the dealer’s cards your edge would be 42.06%. The answer for one card exposed is much more difficult to determine. It would also depend on which card it was. I’m afraid this goes beyond what I can do for free. The video poker machines at Casino Niagara have no progressive jackpots. According to Stanford Wong if an 8/5 quarter video poker machine doesn’t have at least a $2200 jackpot with five quarters played, then dont play. What is your opinion on this. — Gordon Maska from Lewiston, New York I would be very reluctant to ever disagree with Stanford Wong. Assuming you played conventional 8/5 strategy the return in your example would be 99.68%. However if you played optimal strategy for this jackpot the return would be 100.08%. The extra 0.08% is likely because Wong rounded up the break-even jackpot size up by as much as $50.
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Ask the Wizard #26

How do you read the odds on the board at the racetrack? For example what does 20-5 pay if you bet $20 to win? — Denise from Placerville, USA

I’m a little confused on what beats what in five and seven card poker. for example: flush beats a straight and so on. Can you please help me out and let know the full list of what hands beat what in poker. Thanks! — James from USA

With a 52-card deck, what are the odds of drawing a pair of Jacks? — Rick from Gardnerville, USA

What online casinos have Three Card Poker to bet on? — Stacy from USA

Some casinos offer "comps" for different levels of action. I was wondering if there was a way of approximating how much I would have to wager to earn these bonuses. For example what would I need to risk to "play" $7000, or some other figure? Thank you. — Steve from New York, USA

Why don’t you have any GamblingSoftware.com sites listed on your site? I think they have around 87 different casinos you should list. It may help if you are fair with your listings. — Joseph Edwards from Vancouver, BC, Canada

How can I convert your probabilities into the x to y format? — Ralph Harpster from Turlock, USA

I would like to know what the players edge would be in Let It Ride if he can see can see both the dealers cards and then if he can only see one of them? I was told that you could figure it out. — Jeff T. Farquhar from Hammonton, USA

The video poker machines at Casino Niagara have no progressive jackpots. According to Stanford Wong if an 8/5 quarter video poker machine doesn’t have at least a $2200 jackpot with five quarters played, then dont play. What is your opinion on this. — Gordon Maska from Lewiston, New York